Annie Award Nominations 2012

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, has announced the nominations for its 40th Annual Annie Awards, recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation.

The nominations for Best Animated Features totals eight this year and include: Brave (Pixar), Frankenweenie (Disney), Hotel Transylvania (Sony Animation), ParaNorman (Laika), The Pirates: Band Of Misfits (Aardman/Sony Animation), The Rabbi’s Cat (Autochenille Production/GKids), Rise Of The Guardians (Dreamworks Animation), Wreck-It Ralph (Disney). The Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement goes to Disney veteran Mark Henn, Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam and independent animator Oscar Grillo; and the June Foray Award for “significant and charitable impact on the art and industry of animation” will be presented to Disney communications VP (and every animation historian’s best-friend) Howard Green.

The 2012 Annie Award winners will be announced at the Annie Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 2nd, 2013, at UCLA’s Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, CA. A pre-reception begins at 5:00 pm with the awards ceremony following at 7:00 pm. A post-show celebration immediately follows the ceremony. For ticket and event information, please visit annieawards.org.

Gumball has really upped it’s ante in the second season, and I’m pleased to see ‘The Job’ got on there. That episode was absolutely amazing, especially in it’s final act. Of all the other nominations in it’s category, I’d personally say it’s the most deserving of the award.

As an aside, it’s nice to see Justin time in the preschool catagory. It really is a lovely looking kid’s show.
Hopefully Vodka Capital can get some of their work nominated some day too.

http://fmhansen.com Frank M Hansen

I agree. “Amazing World of Gumball” has really improved in season 2. The animation and art were always great but the writing overall has really improved. Well deserved.

And Elfman’s take on the music for the Disney logo alone is worth some sort of recognition.

Ryan

I totally agree. I really liked his score. I am glad to see that Disney’s movies were honored in such a significant way!

Glenn Lazo

Just two, TWO, nominations to Gravity Falls? I’m dissapointed.

Sarah J

Agreed, I was looking all over the list, thinking I’d missed a nomination or five. It’s SUCH a great show, why no more?

Sarah J

I saw most of the films nominated. (still need to see The Rabbi’s Cat, Hotel Transylvania, and Guardians) Some pretty good ones this year and it’s hard for me to decide which one I think should win.

The TV shows, I haven’t seen all of them so I can’t give a complete opinion. But I do hope The Legend of Korra gets an award, (perhaps in writing, character design, or animation) along with Dragons: Riders of Berk. The latter turned out to be far better than I expected it to be and I think it deserves recognition.

Rafael

Yay Dickfigures the little man made the nominees! I hope they win it! They really do deserve it!

http://www.worthdayley.com Worth Dayley

As one who works in video games, I cannot even begin to understand the criteria being used for the “Animated Video Game” category… O_O

Michael Russell

This year’s slate of nominations demonstrates a huge problem with the changes ASIFA-Hollywood made to their Annie Awards participation. A couple years ago, under pressure from a couple large studios, ASIFA-Hollywood caved and changed who could nominate and who could vote on the Annie Awards. Short story, only members with “professional” status can nominate and vote. But, to be a “professional” member, the person has to work for a Studio or have credits appear in commercial media (theatrical, TV, advertising). As a result, it is not surprising to see the nominations flooded with products from the big studios – Disney, WB, Sony, Nick, etc. It makes sense, the majority of “professional” members who can nominate work for Disney, WB, Sony, Nick, etc.

Little wonder Disney and others complained a few years ago about the broad nominations that came into ASIFA-Hollywood, resulting in films by Ghibli and other non-mainstream studios to win awards.

Now the nominations lack diversity and creativity. Where are the small studios that produce popular and entertaining products? Where are the small networks represented? Where are the pioneering works from the international community?

Maybe ASIFA-Hollywood will re-think the rules change and what defines a “professional” member. ASIFA-Hollywood should return to its roots of being The Animation Society representing the common interests of all members who love moving artwork, from creator or the patron.

Sadly, the Annie Awards have degraded from reflecting the artistic appreciation of a diverse base of animation lovers to becoming the marketing award of the major participating studios.

Roger Dog

I’ll just go ahead and give a big congratulations to Lab Zero Games on their well-earned nomination for Skullgirls! Glad to see their hard work recognized (even if only nominated) despite suffering some unfortunate financial issues along the way.

Loved the great 2D work, hopin’ for more!

Josh

HOWARD GREEN IS THE MAN!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/pcbookstore Nic Orizaga

Tom Herpich…”The Goliad”…Adventure Time….algebraic!!

Olivier Vuil

Congrats LabZero for Skullgirls !
It’s great to see a 100% hand-drawn animated game, it’s pretty rare in these times.

I’ll just say I’m glad that the Games category is no longer dominated by movie tie-ins. That was always embarrassing when I was in ASIFA-Hollywood.

http://www.animatorisland.com/ J.K. Riki

Shame Arrugas didn’t make the cut, it had amazing heart for a film of any kind.

GSW

Arrugas was nominated last year.

Brian

I think it’s cool that under short subject the couch gag Plympton made for The Simpsons was nominated. I wonder if John K’s was considered or was that from the season before? I also hope more animators get a chance to animate the couch gag.

Since there’s no set number of nominees for Best Feature, I wonder why “Madagascar 3″ and “Ice Age 4″ didn’t make the cut. They’re both terrific films.

And WHAT is up with “no nominees” in the Commercial category?

Crystal

Does anyone know what the Annies seem to prioritize/value when picking nominations? Motorcity got a good nomination, but why only one?–it’s gorgeous, fleshes out its characters and has some great serious moments. Why none for Thundercats? (It was kinda snubbed last year along with Sym-Bionic Titan, it only had ONE last year)

Is it a popularity contest? It seems like a lot of these nods are shows popular with young children. Does it prioritize “kids” shows over stuff written with an older audience in mind?

Do the Annies not really get into things with a more “mature” tone and ongoing plotlines? Scooby Doo Mystery Inc does some things well and even I have problems with it. Do they prefer episodic children’s comedies?

Penguins of Madagascar, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and TUFF Puppy aren’t “bad” shows but there’s much better stuff out there. Michael Russell’s complaints make sense, but I CAN think of great mainstream stuff out there not getting many nominations. Nice to see Beforel Orel get some nominations though.

Vince

Wish that next to the student film nominees they would list the schools, if any, where the films were made. Always interesting to see which schools are producing cool animation from there programs.

http://www.cinimage.org/ Cinimage

I saw most of the films nominations but this year nominated films are awesome . Picking which is best it’s difficult this time for me.

Gabbi

Still no My Little Pony nominations? What the hell..??

Also, Dust: An Elysian Tail should’ve been nominated for Video Game Animation. That game was animated by just ONE guy, that’s an incredible accomplishment!

workboy53

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